Inflorescence: crowded clusters of flowers at the tips of short hairy stalks; a pair of leaves below each group of flower stalks.

Flowers: without petals; calyx purple, resembling petals, tubular, 1/2” long; surrounded by five leafy bracts (involucre) that resemble a calyx; opening in late afternoon; flowering from late May to mid-July.

Fruits: linear, 3/32” long; fruiting begins in mid-July.

Habitat: frequent on dry to mesic prairies, also on roadsides and in other open places; weedy and often a pioneer on disturbed sites.